Harry Potter: Raised by Minerva
by Draco-Hermy
Summary: For the "I was raised by..." challenge. What would happen if, instead of going to the Dursley's house, Harry was taken under the wing of Minerva McGonagall? CURRENTLY ON HOLD
1. A Birthday Surprise

**Chapter One**

Minerva McGonagall was a sweet woman. Not many people knew this about her, since she chose to hide it underneath a strict personality, but she knew about love, and how it worked.

Minerva had agreed to care for little Harry Potter after that horrible Halloween night. She and her late husband, Elphinstone, had never had children, but she had always wanted them, which was why she was so excited to be responsible for Harry.

Albus had warned her of how time-consuming this would be, but she didn't care. Lily and James had been wonderful people- surely Harry wouldn't be too much of a problem.

To her surprise, he wasn't. The first few years were hard, living in the extension of her office at Hogwarts with Harry in the next room, but she learned to get used to it. Finally, it came time for Harry's eleventh birthday, and that was when it really started getting difficult.

It wasn't much of a house, just two tiny bedrooms and a crude living space that connected to Minerva's office, but Harry called it his house, as did Minerva. His eyes snapped open to see the flat stone ceiling of his room for a second, before he jumped out of his bed and ran to Minerva's room.

Harry threw open the door, but Minerva wasn't there. He wasn't too surprised. There was a lot of work to be done before school began this year, and she was probably at a meeting. But it didn't stop him from being a little disappointed that she wasn't there to celebrate his eleventh's birthday.

He opened the door to her office and saw that it was empty. This wasn't a surprise, either. The meetings were often in Dumbledore's office, so Minerva was most likely sitting there, discussing some problem or other.

Harry walked down the stairs to the Great Hall, thinking about how nice a pancake would be right now, and he went straight in, intending to sit down quietly at a table.

He was met with something entirely not quiet. In fact, the hall had erupted upon his entrance, streamers and horns and firecrackers popping in the air. Harry stumbled back, a wide smile on his face. Everyone had always paid attention to his birthday, but he'd never had a surprise party.

"Settle down, everyone," Dumbledore said, and immediately everybody sat down and quieted. Harry slid onto a bench next to Minerva. Dumbledore grabbed a goblet of wine. "I propose a toast to you, Harry." There was a general murmuring of agreement, even though he hadn't really said anything yet. "May you live a long and wonderful life, and may you find great friends this year at Hogwarts." He took a sip of his wine, and everyone cheered.

"Wait, I'm not done!" Dumbledore announced. No one spoke. "To you, Minerva, for raising such an amazing and well-rounded child, as my mother once said to me that 'it is not a terribly difficult endeavor. To be a successful parent you must simply sacrifice eighty-five percent of your entire being and use it as a vector to grow the child.' I believe in this statement wholeheartedly, and I toast to you for taking it on."

Harry was the first to clap, grinning, if possible, even more. Minerva definitely deserved to be recognized, and he knew it. He couldn't be so selfish as to take all the glory to himself on his birthday. It is never good to be self-absorbed, as Minerva had said many times to him. Harry had always taken this to heart.

Then again, he was quite excited for later that day, when Minerva had promised to take him to Diagon Alley to get his school supplies. This would be the first time he'd been there. Harry had gone to Hogsmeade lots of times, tagging along with the third years and older when they went. They didn't mind. And he loved it there, but Harry had seen every inch of that place, and had never gone to Diagon Alley, the mythical land behind the brick wall.

A few hours later, Harry stood in front of the fireplace in Minerva's office, a fistful of Floo powder in his hand. He bounced on the balls of his feet, waiting for his guardian to come out of the bathroom and accompany him on the best trip of his entire life.

When she finally did, Harry stuffed some powder in her hand and told her to go first, since he didn't know how. She smiled and threw the powder into the fire. It glowed green, and Harry gasped. He had seen this before, but never had he been so close. Minerva stepped into the fire, yelled "Diagon Alley", and was whisked away, spinning extremely fast.

Harry gulped. That looked kind of uncomfortable. But then he took a deep breath, dumped his powder into the fire, and walked in. "Diagon Alley!" he shouted, and started to spin so quickly, he thought he might throw up. So Harry did the sensible thing and closed his eyes, hoping desperately to land in the correct place.


	2. Friends and Enemies

**A/N I know it took me a long time to update, but my priority was with So Easy. That's finished now, so this can be my only in-progress fanfiction. DO NOT EXPECT CHAPTERS IN AUGUST. I'm doing Camp NaNoWriMo, which will demand all of my writing time. I might post one or two chapters that month, but don't hold high expectations. After that, school starts, but I'll definitely be able to write chapters then. IMPORTANT: Do you guys think I should continue this all through Harry's first year? Or just until school starts? I want your opinions!**

Harry flew out of a fireplace, landing on a wood floor with his eyes squeezed as tight as they would go. He peeked one open, and then the other, taking in his surroundings. He appeared to be in a bookstore, with rows upon rows of unopened books squished together like eggs in a carton.

Without waiting for Minerva, Harry rushed over to the nearest shelf and looked eagerly at the waiting stories. There were legends, myths, omens, signs, and self-help books in front of him. Harry rolled his eyes. This stuff was never interesting. He moved over to another shelf, and grinned. It was filled with books about all the Quidditch teams. Harry pulled one out with the title of _Chudley Cannons Head to Toe,_ and began to read. He leaned against the bookshelf for a small while, waiting for Minerva and wondering what was taking her so long, but was too absorbed in the book to realize that she had just walked in the front door instead of entering through the fireplace.

Minerva walked over to Harry and tapped his shoulder. He jumped and snapped the book closed, shoving it back into its designated spot on the bookshelf behind him. Harry looked up at Minerva, expecting to meet a scolding expression. Her face was quite the opposite, however, smiling down at him and holding a letter in her outstretched hand.

Harry took the letter and unfolded it quickly, reading the words at a faster speed than normal. He knew what this was; he had just been officially accepted into Hogwarts. It shouldn't have been a big deal, since he had lived in the school his entire life, but Harry had been having some tiny doubts as to whether he really deserved to go to school there. Maybe he had been kidding himself with those instances of magic, maybe he was desperately making things up to make himself feel better. Apparently not, though, because here was the proof that he was a wizard. Here was the rest of his life.

"You're going to need a lot of schoolbooks," Minerva said. "But it won't be hard to find them, considering where we are." She gestured to the store around them. "And I already have most of the books, so we only have to find two new ones."

Harry nodded. They wandered the shop, not in much of a hurry. Minerva picked out the books they didn't have and strode purposefully over to the counter. She paid, and they were on the way out when Minerva ran into someone she knew. The woman was kind of heavy, with robes and red hair. She was with four boys and one girl, all with the same, bright red hair as her. The youngest boy appeared to be around Harry's age, and he was tall with lots of freckles.

The woman turned to Harry and held out her hand. He shook it, and noticed that she had a firm grip. "What's your name, dear?" she asked.

"Harry," he answered. She smiled.

"How old are you?"

"Eleven today."

"Ron's eleven as well! You'll be in the same year at Hogwarts," the woman said, pushing the youngest boy slightly toward Harry. She continued her conversation with Minerva. Something about a phoenix.

Ron shifted uncomfortably. "Are you Harry Potter?" he asked. Then he turned scarlet, as if he couldn't believe he had actually asked.

"How do you know my name?" Harry asked.

"You're famous," Ron said.

Harry had known that people knew who he was, that Voldemort had left the sight of the world the night he tried to murder Harry, but he had always been under the impression that he was the kind of celebrity only a select few knew, and even less cared about. His impression had obviously been wrong.

"Am I?"

"My mum has about fifty books that mention your name," Ron told him. Harry raised his eyebrows.

"Wow."

"Yeah. I've never read them. Sorry."

"I don't mind. I didn't even know there were books about me," Harry said.

"Do you like Red Vines?" Ron asked suddenly. He pulled out a pack and offered it to Harry.

"Of course I like Red Vines. How does a person _not_ like Red Vines?" Harry responded, taking some.

Ron grinned. "You passed the test. I think we're going to get along really well."

ONE HOUR LATER

Harry and Minerva were at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Harry had to get fitted for a robe, since all he had to wear at the moment were comfortable Muggle clothing. Minerva waited in the next room over while Madam Malkin picked a robe out for him. Harry happened to be standing next to a pale boy, who introduced himself as Draco Malfoy.

After a few minutes of conversation, Harry concluded that he didn't like Draco Malfoy.

The boy was too prejudiced about Muggleborns, and he kept bashing Hufflepuff. There was absolutely nothing wrong with being in Hufflepuff, and Harry told him so. Draco stuck his nose up at Harry and never asked for his name, so Harry never told him. After this episode was over, Harry was whisked back to Minerva, where he then recounted the entire conversation.

Minerva made a sour face. "His family has always thought they were better than Muggleborns. Don't listen to him, he's only repeating the lies his parents have probably ingrained into his brain."

"I would never be friends with someone like that," Harry said.

"You don't have to, trust me. Ron Weasley seems nice, do you like him?"

"He's great. He likes Red Vines! We're already friends."

"Good. You're going to need loyal friends."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"There are people in this world that will attempt to take advantage of you," Minerva said. "And when they do, you need to be able to lean on someone."

"But who would take advantage of me?"

Minerva ignored the question and walked up to an extremely large man with a bushy beard. Harry recognized him as Hagrid, who had always been nice to him. Hagrid clapped him on the back.

"How are yeh, Harry? Havin' a good birthday?"

"Definitely."

"Good. Eleven's an important year. First year of Hogwarts... I remember when I picked yeh up from yer parents' house, ten years ago. Yeh grew up so fast." Hagrid paused to discreetly wipe his eyes. "Well, I've gotta be goin' now. Have a great birthday!" Hagrid lumbered off in the general direction of Gringotts.

"You have to get a wand," Minerva said. "Are you ready?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Mr. Olivander can be a bit... eccentric," she answered, and pushed open the door to a small, dark shop.

Thirty minutes later, they exited, Harry's mind reeling from the odd encounter with the wandmaker. The man had said his wand was curious, and when Harry had asked why, Olivander had responded that Voldemort's wand had the same core. Harry wasn't sure what this meant for him, but he suspected it was nothing good.

Minerva asked him if he wanted a cat or an owl. Harry considered this, and then remembered that Minerva was a cat. To him, this meant that he already _had_ a cat, and so he didn't need another one. He decided to get an owl.

So they walked to Eeylop's Owl Emporium, where Harry immediately picked out the only white, spotted owl in the place. After flipping through his textbooks for inspiration, Harry settled on the name Hedwig, and he officially had his first pet.

Five hours after they had arrived, Minerva and Harry were finally ready to leave Diagon Alley. When they got back to Hogwarts, Harry raced to his room and set up all his belongings, tremendously excited for school to start.


End file.
